First note: I'm a photography novice.... I bought a digital camera yesterday and in trying to take a close up it looks awful...so out of focus it ain't even funny. So I read an article on how to buy a digital camera. I found out that the camera doesn't have a "macro" setting so it doesn't do close ups. What I want to know is how much money do I need to spend to get a camera that will take decent close up images of say, for instance, if I want to take pictures of the garden flowers. I know if I spend $1000 it will do the job but I'm not spending that much while I'm still learning how to take photos. So where is the dollar line on how expsensive a camera I need to get to use for practice. Thanks for your help!